Two-stage copier

ABSTRACT

A two-stage copier has a housing in which there are located side-by-side exposure station and a heating station. The exposure station has a light source and a flat light-transmissive panel over the light source, with a cover member being hinged on the housing so that it can be pivoted onto the exposure station. The heating station has a heating member an upper surface of which is convex from the rear towards the front of the housing, and a frame element which is hinged in the region of the rear of the housing and which can be pushed down towards the convex surface. A relatively stiff web of synthetic plastic mesh is mounted on the frame element.

[451 May 7,1974

[ TWO-STAGE COPIER [75] Inventor: Seymour Fader, Paramus, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Robin International, Inc., New

York, NY.

[22] Filed: Aug. 22, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 282,837

[52] US. Cl....'. 355/113, 355/115, 355/118 [51] Int. Cl. G03b 27/04[58] Field of Search 355/97, 99, 100, 104, 106,

1,084,032 9/1967 Great Britain 355/113 Primary Examiner-Richarcl M.Sheer Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT Atwo-stage copier has a housing in which there are located side-by-sideexposure station and a heating station. The exposure station has a lightsource and a flat light-transmissive panel over the light source, with acover member being hinged on the housing so that it can be pivoted ontothe exposure station. The heating station has a heating member an uppersurface of which is convex from the rear towards the front of thehousing, and a frame element which is hinged in the region of the rearof the housing and which can be pushed down towards the convex surface.A relatively stiff web of synthetic plastic mesh is mounted on the frameelement.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDm (1914 saw a nr 2 TWO-STAGE COPIERBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to acopier and, more particularly, to a copying apparatus. Still moreparticularly, the invention relates toa two-stage copying apparatus.

There is known in the art the so-called dual-spectrum copying process,and apparatus for carrying this out.

' This involves the exposure of material to be copied through alight-sensitive intermediate sheet, whereupon the exposed intermediatesheet is placed in contact with a copy sheet and the two are subjectedto heating. An apparatus of this type is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No.3,428,400 to which reference may be had for the general conceptinvolved.

The problem with the prior art is, however, that the apparatusheretofore known does not permit entirely convenient operation nor doesit permit ready copying of pages from books or other bound material,without distortion of the printed material due to binding pull and pagecurvature. It is, therefore, desirable to provide further improvementsin the field.

SUMMARY OF THE'INVENTION Accordingly, it is a general object of theinvention to provide such improvements.-

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to providean improved two-stage copier of the type here under discussion whichaffords the aforementioned improvements.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved two-stagecopier which is simple in its construction and use, and highly reliablein its operation.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a copier whichis particularly suited for making copies from books and other boundmaterials without distortion of the copied material due to binding pullor page curvature.

In pursuance of these objects, and of others which will become apparenthereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in a two-stage copier,in a combination which, briefly stated, comprises a housing having arear side and a front side, and an exposure station in the housing. Theexposure station includes a light source, a flat light-transmissivepanel over the light source, and a cover member hinged adjacent therear'side of the housing for pivoting movement to and from a firstposition overlying the panel. There is further provided a heatingstation in the housing laterally adjacent the exposure station andincluding a heating member having an upper surface which is convex indirection from the front side towards the rear side. A frame element ishinged in the region of the rear side and movable to and from a secondposition surrounding a second member, and a web of taut but yieldablesheet material is mounted in the frame element so as to overlie andexert pressure upon an object on the upper surface when the frameelement is in its second position.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation,

together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top-perspective viewillustrating a copier according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF. THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing indetail, it will be seen that in FIGS. 1 and2 I have illustrated oneembodiment of a copier according to my invention. The copier isdesignated in toto with reference numeral 1. It has a housing 2 whoseconfiguration need not be that which has been illustrated. The housing 2has two operating stations provided in it, namely an exposure stationand a heating station. As the drawing shows, the exposure stationcomprises a planar plate 3, preferably of synthetic plastic material.The plate 3 is light-transmissive, and mounted in the housing,underneath the plate 3, is a light source, here illustrated as a lightbulb 15. It will be appreciated, of course, that the light bulb I5 isrepresentative of any suitable light source, including two or more lightbulbs, which may be arranged as required in order to obtain propertransmission of light through the plate 3. Reference numeral 5identifies a cover which is hinged to the rear side of the housing 2, sothat it can be moved from the illustrated position to a positionoverlying and covering the plate 3. The inner side of the cover, whichwill face the plate 3 when the cover is in its closed position, isprovided with a pressure pad here illustrated as a pad 6 of syntheticplastic foam material or other materials which are suitable. The purposeis to exert pressure upon copying material which is disposed on theplate 3 in order to prevent such material from changing its positioninadvertently.

Laterally adjacent and separated from the exposure station is theheating station of the novel apparatus. As illustrated, the heatingstation comprises a curved plate or panel 4, with the curvature beingsuch as to extend from the front toward the rear side of the housing 2.In other words, the upper surface of the plate 4 is convex. As FIG. 2shows, the plate 4 in the illustrated embodiment utilizes two layers 13of asbestosor a similar material with an electrically resisting material14 being embedded and sandwiched between the layers 13. Otherarrangements can also be utilized, and the type of sandwich-like plate 4illustrated in the drawing is well known in the art and requires nofurther discussion.

The heating station is also provided with a cover 7 which is of course,movable between an open and a closed position. The cover 7 is preferablyhinged on the rear side of the housing 2 by means of one or moreseparable hinges so that by separating the hinges, usually by slidingthem apart, the cover 7 can be completely removed from the housing 2.This could also be done with the cover 5, but advantageously the cover 5will normally be mounted with non-separable hinges.

The heating station further comprises a frame 8 so configurated that itcan surround the plate 4 and also being hinged to the housing 2 at therear side thereof. The frame 8 is movable between the illustratedupright position and a position in which it surrounds the plate 4, thatis, in which it is pivoted forwardly and downwardly in FIG. 1. A web 9of taut relatively stiff but still yieldable synthetic plastic material,advantageously a woven plastic fabric, is mounted on or in the frame 8.The purpose is that when the frame 8 is moved to its positionsurrounding the plate 4, the fabric 9 will engage copying material onthe upper surface of the plate 4 and hold it in position, pressing itagainst the plate 4. This is, of course, possible only if the size ofthe copying material is such as to permit such an operation.

Reference numeral 10 designates an on-off switch of known constructionwhich initiates or terminates the supply of electrical energy to thelight bulb and the heating station. Reference numeral 11 is a timer ofany known construction and by means of which the time for exposure ofcopy material on the plate 3 can be set. Reference numeral 12 designatesan indicator light which indicates the readiness state of the heatingstation.,The electrical circuit and connections of the components just,mentioned do not form a part of the invention and are not described indetail. Reference may be had, however, to the aforementioned U.S. patentfor details. The heat supplied by the plate 4 is thermostaticallycontrolled in known manner but this also is not a part of the invention.The supply of power can be anywhere from between substantially 95 voltsand 240 volts AC, and the apparatus is provided with a nonillustratedline cord for connection with the power supply.

in operationof the novel apparatus an intermediate, light-sensitivesheet is placed against that side of the original which is to be copied.Together, the original and the light sensitive sheet are then placedface down on the plate 3, whereupon the cover is closed andadvantageously locked in position. Now the timer is set for theappropriate time and when it returns to zero, the cover is lifted tothe'pos ition shown in FIG. 1 and the original and the light-sensitivesheet are removed. The light-sensitive sheet is then separated from theoriginal and placed against a positive'or copy sheet with which it isthen placed onto the plate 4. The frame 8 is then brought down so thatthe web 9 presses the sheets against the plate 4. When the desired imageappears,

. the plastic web and the frame 8 are lifted and the sheets if books orother bound materials are used from which a useful application in othertypes of constructions'differing from the types described above.

While' the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in atwo-stage copier, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown,since various modifications and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist,of the present invention that others can,

by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applicationswithout omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairlyconstitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspectsof this invention and, therefore such adaptations should and areintended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalenceof the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected .by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a two-stage copier, a combination comprising a housing having arear side and a front side; an exposure station fixedly mounted in saidhousing and having a light source including a light bulb, a flatlighttransmissive panel over said light source, and a first cover memberhinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivotingmovement to and from a position in which it overlies said panel inpressureexerting relationship; a heating station fixedly mounted in saidhousing laterally adjacent said exposure station and including a heatingmember having an upper surface which is convex in direction. from saidfront side towards said rear side, said heating member comprising anupper and a lower layer of asbestos and a heating layersandwichedbetween said upper'and lower layers, said heating stationfurther including a frame hinged at one end adjacent said rear side,said frame being movable to and from a position wherein the framesurrounds and extends below the upper surface of said heating member,and a web of yieldable material tautly mounted on said frame so as tooverlie and exert pressure upon an object on said upper surface whensaid frame is in said surrounding position; and a second cover memberhinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivotingmovement to and from a position overlying said upper surface, saidsecond cover member having a side which faces said upper surface and isupwardly spaced therefrom and from said web when said second covermember is in said overlying position and said frame is in saidsurrounding positron.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said panel is ofsynthetic plastic material.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said web is a syntheticplastic textile material.

4. A combination as defined in claim 1; further comprising adisengageable hinge releasably hinging said second cover member to saidhousing adjacent said rear side thereof.

5. A combination as defined in claim 1; and further comprising apressure pad at a side of said first cover member which is juxtaposedwith said panel when said first cover member is in said first positionthereof.

6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said pressure pad is ofresiliently compressible synthetic

1. In a two-stage copier, a combination comprising a housing having arear side and a front side; an exposure station fixedly mounted in saidhousing and having a light source including a light bulb, a flatlight-transmissive panel over said light source, and a first covermember hinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side forpivoting movement to and from a position in which it overlies said panelin pressure-exerting relationship; a heating station fixedly mounted insaid housing laterally adjacent said exposure station and including aheating member having an upper surface which is convex in direction fromsaid front side towards said rear side, said heating member comprisingan upper and a lower layer of asbestos and a heating layer sandwichedbetween said upper and lower layers, said heating station furtherincluding a frame hinged at one end adjacent said rear side, said framebeing movable to and from a position wherein the frame surrounds andextends below the upper surface of said heating member, and a web ofyieldable material tautly mounted on said frame so as to overlie andexert pressure upon an object on said upper surface when said frame isin said surrounding position; and a second cover member hinged at oneend to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivoting movement to andfrom a position overlying said upper surface, said second cover memberhaving a side which faces said upper surface and is upwardly spacedtherefrom and from said web when said second cover member is in saidoverlying position and said frame is in said surrounding position.
 2. Acombination as defined in claim 1, wherein said panel is of syntheticplastic material.
 3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein saidweb is a synthetic plastic textile material.
 4. A combination as definedin claim 1; further comprising a disengageable hinge releasably hingingsaid second cover member to said housing adjacent said rear sidethereof.
 5. A combination as defined in claim 1; and further comprisinga pressure pad at a side of said first cover member which is juxtaposedwith said panel when said first cover member is in said first positionthereof.
 6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said pressurepad is of resiliently compressible synthetic plastic foam material.
 7. Acombination as defined in claim 1; further comprising timer meansoperatively associated with said light source, and switch means forenergizing and de-energizing said light source.
 8. A combination asdefined in claim 7; and further comprising indicating means forindicating the temperature status of said heating member.